DIY belt sander plans

W

WC53

Joined
Dec 15, 2016
Messages
185
i have been looking at the different 2x72 belt sander plans out there. Is there any consensus on a favored design? I have a quantity of 1/4" plate and 2x2 thick and thin walled tubing and angle, couple spare motors on hand with the requisite tools (welder, drill press, antique mill and lathe) and was thinking of buildng one for knife grinding. I have more spare time than spare money right now regarding buying one.

Any thoughts, looking at some of the wheel prices, I don't want to waste my time if the wheels would cost more than a decent unit.

Thanks!
 
Dcknives has a good build on his blog using tubing. For wheels, Oregon blademaker is most likely the cheapest, and I have a set that is going strong over a year in.
 
If you've got a lathe wheels (apart from contact wheels) are easy enough to make. Just takes a bit of care in boring for the bearings
 
Dc knives also has the OSG (Open Source Grinder) on his site. It is pretty darn sweet. As my grinder plans, it requires 1/2" plate water jet cut. Maybe laser or plasma would work too.
 
I would worry about thin wall tubing...a friend built one with thin wall and ultimately scraped the thin wall for 1/8" wall tubing.
If I were building another I would certainly find some plate and use Kevin's File to build it!
 
Thanks guys! I happened to find the Oregon blademakers stuff on ebay last night. I don't know how I missed Kevin's thread, weak search skills for sure.

Most of my tubing is 2" structural tubing with 1/4" walls. I have a stick left from an old project. I agree on the 11 and 14gauge stuff being too light.
 
That tubing will be fine.
I've switched to 3/16 wall 1.5" box for the tool arms of my grinder. I previously used the standard solid steel and aluminum.
They are even lighter than solid aluminum, every bit as hard to tear up as solid steel, and stiff enough to not be able to tell the slightest difference on either a platten or contact wheel.
If you're not familiar with my standards for my tools, I'm picky enough to install my own bearings in Bader wheels instead of using their hubs, just so I can get rid of the couple thou of runout. Cost doesn't play into it at all, I use box because it's simply better for the application.


Grinder wise the only one I've built from plans rather than my own design was an eerf. I ended up changing a few things to suit me, but even as is you'd be hard pressed to find too much to complain about if it's built well. Having ran both I'd personally choose one of those over a factory KMG
 
Awesome news! Dan Comeau has his Open Source Grinder project (including drawings) up on his site. It is a great looking build, with tilt option built in. I think I would have built this if I hadn't already done all the leg work on my plans and build already. I'm posting it hear, since it's an open source project and the plans are free. check it out. http://sayberosg.com/forum/
 
Kevin McGovern said:
Awesome news! Dan Comeau has his Open Source Grinder project (including drawings) up on his site. It is a great looking build, with tilt option built in. I think I would have built this if I hadn't already done all the leg work on my plans and build already. I'm posting it hear, since it's an open source project and the plans are free. check it out. http://sayberosg.com/forum/
Click to expand...

Now that's not a bad looking machine!
 
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